


the stranger

by 10vesick



Series: love (it's merely a madness) [3]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: First Meetings, Love at First Sight, M/M, jaehyun's the confident gay, johnny's a dumb bi, mbfw AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-06 02:45:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18842029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10vesick/pseuds/10vesick
Summary: They’re standing face to face, a lot more closer than strangers probably should. There’s something greater than them pulling them together, something asking them not to part ways. Johnny wants to say something, but he doesn’t find the words to do so.





	the stranger

**Author's Note:**

> this is part of a series that complement [my current social media AU](https://twitter.com/xuxirolled/status/1117937984714702855) you don't have to read it, but it can help make more sense !

_February 20 th, 2017_

_9:54 PM_

 

Johnny is about to close.

The tables around the coffee shop have been cleaned, the floors have been mopped, and there hasn’t been a single client in the past hour, so he’s ready to call it a day.

Besides, it’s raining outside, and he wants to go home.

Johnny exhales deeply, tired, and rolls his neck to get rid of some of his piled-up tension. Through the window, he takes notice of a guy walking past the coffee shop with his arms above his head, trying to protect himself from the rain.

The image makes Johnny remember he forgot to bring an umbrella with him, despite Mark telling him several times this morning that there were chances of rain today.

As Johnny makes his way to the little storage room behind the counter, he silently pleads to find an umbrella inside— and to his luck, he does. There’s a big, transparent one decorated with cherry blossoms, a birthday gift Yuta had gotten for Taeyong last year. The latter must have forgotten to take it with him earlier today, when his shift ended, and Johnny’s grateful for that.

After hanging his apron on the little rack by the door and taking the umbrella with him, he makes his way back towards the front of his little coffee shop. He leans against the counter and pulls out his phone to call Mark and tell him he’ll be home in a few minutes.

Outside, there’s another person rushing past the store, arms above their head. Johnny frowns for a second, for something tells him it’s the same man as before, and it disconcerts him.

But he shakes his head and dials his little brother’s number anyway.

After what seems like forever, Mark finally answers. “Hyung.”

Johnny clicks his tongue. “What took you so long? You always have the damn phone in your hand.”

He’s not there to see, but Johnny can almost picture Mark rolling his eyes. “Sorry. Hyuck and I were, um, watching a movie. I didn’t hear the phone ring.”

“Hyuck’s there? This late?”

“Yeah. He’s staying over, if you don’t mind.”

Johnny taps his fingers over the counter. “Of course I don’t. Just make sure his mom actually _knows_ this time,” he warns, reminiscing the little incident they had a few weeks ago, where Donghyuck’s mom nearly called the police because he didn’t tell her he’d be staying at Mark’s. 

On the other side of the line, he can hear his brother whisper something away from the phone. A few seconds later, he’s back. “Alright, she knows now.”

“Good. I just finished cleaning around here. I’ll lock the doors and head home pretty soon.”

“Okay, we’ll be waiting,” Mark says, then he seems to remember something. “Did you bring an umbrella?”

Johnny looks at the one he’s holding. “Uh, of course I did.”

“Liar. I saw the salmon one over your bed this afternoon. That’s why I told Taeyong hyung to leave his inside the storage room.”

“... What would I do without you?” Johnny smiles, a little embarrassed, and Mark says something along the lines of _probably die_ before telling him to come home safe and sound, and then hanging up.

Johnny puts the phone back in his pocket, and then there’s someone walking by the coffee shop again.

And Johnny’s certain it’s the same guy as before.

For some reason, he can’t shake it off, and he quickly makes his way towards the door, cracking open the umbrella as he steps out. The rain falls heavy over the transparent plastic, and Johnny finds himself calling out for the stranger before even stopping to think twice if it’s a good idea 

“Hey!” he yells over the rain, and the guy freezes in place. “… Do you need help?”

He’s standing just a few feet in front of Johnny, and the latter can tell he’s already drenched from head to toe. The guy’s denim jacket looks darkened and heavy, and his head is covered by the hood of the sweatshirt he’s wearing underneath. But he doesn’t say anything.

So Johnny continues. “It’s just that I’ve seen you walk past my coffee shop three times in the last 15 minutes… I was wondering if you were lost.”

A few seconds pass and there’s nothing but silence. Johnny holds tighter onto the umbrella handle, wondering if he’s made a mistake. For all he knows, this guy could be a serial killer, and Johnny curses at himself and his dumb nature of offering help to those who seem to need it. 

It isn’t until the stranger speaks up that Johnny can breathe normally again.

“… I lost my friends.”

“Have you called them?”

“My phone’s dead.”

Johnny thinks about it for a moment. He knows not a lot of people would do what he’s doing right now. Talking to this complete stranger in the middle of the night brings along the possibility of getting either robbed or killed… But this guy looks harmless, and the way his voice sounds small compared to the water drops hitting hard against the ground makes Johnny feel a little bad for him.

So he decides he can take the risk.

“Why don’t you come inside?” he gestures towards the coffee shop to his right, although the stranger is still facing the other way. “There’s a phone you can use to call your friends. And you can stay until the rain calms down a little bit.”

The stranger doesn’t seem too convinced. His hands are now buried deep inside his jacket pockets, and he seems to be considering whether to accept the invitation or not (as if Johnny were the suspicious man under the rain).

Nevertheless, he ends up nodding, and slowly turns around to follow Johnny inside the coffee shop.

 

* * *

  

“You can sit down if you want,” Johnny says, his back turned to the guy, as he places the umbrella against the wall near the door. “Let me get the phone.”

The other man thanks him, and Johnny walks towards the counter to look for the cordless phone they use for the coffee shop— because as naïve as he may be, he knows better than to hand his own iPhone to a stranger.

Johnny hears ruffling and the chirring of a chair behind him as his eyes find the device somewhere near the cashier, and he reaches out to take it before walking back towards the table where he last left the stranger.

“You know you friend’s number? Tell them you’re here, I’ll give you the…”

Johnny raises his face to look at the guy, and he stops.

Stops talking, stops moving, stops breathing.

Stops because he can’t bring himself to do anything before such a beautiful stranger.

He stands tall— not taller than Johnny, but tall nonetheless— next to the nearest table to the door. He’s taken off his jacket, the heavy denim now resting over the backrest of a chair, and the hood of his sweatshirt is no longer covering his head.

And Johnny can’t stop himself from taking in all of his features.

The stranger has the kind of face that stops you in your tracks. Almond shaped eyes, a straight nose in between. Smooth, flawless skin that reminds Johnny of Korean rice cakes, and he has to fight the urge to reach up a hand to pinch his cheeks. His parted lips are almost plump, and they’re a shade of pink so distinctive Johnny can only think of as _peach_.

“You’ll give me the address?” the guy asks, offering to finish the sentence Johnny has left hanging in the air. He smiles, softly, and Johnny is ready to start crying in the spot the second he takes notice of the slight appearance of dimples on his face.

The guy must be used to this— the sudden pause in a person’s natural expression when they look his way. The blush that accompanies it is a dead giveaway on Johnny’s face, and he’s so embarrassed he can just nod in response as the other takes the phone from his hands.

It doesn’t help that he’s modest with the mess Johnny’s being right now, and it makes the knot on his throat tighten a little bit more.

The stranger looks down to press numbers on the phone to finally call his friends. As he looks up with the phone against his ear, Johnny is caught still staring, and he feels his knees give out and nearly falls. He does not, cannot, look away.

Because all of a sudden, Johnny feels a strange flutter inside his chest that he had not felt in quite some time.

The guy, in turn, seems to be completely caught off guard by the seeming depths of the pure honey pools that stare back at him. He blushes and smiles at Johnny one more time before the person on the other line finally seems to answer, and he turns around a little.

“ _Woo? It’s me, Jae,_ ” he says on the phone, and Johnny’s taken out of his trance at the set of words that just left the man’s lips. Not only does this stranger have a name now, but he’s also speaking Korean. “ _Yes, the idiot that wanted to wander off alone. Ugh, don’t tell Doyoung, but he was right. I got lost._ ”

Johnny hears him, everything he’s saying, but his utter attention is directed to the sweetness of his voice, the curving of his mouth as he speaks. He starts feeling awkward and a little like a creep, just standing there listening to a conversation the other doesn’t even know he can understand, so Johnny shakes his head and walks behind the counter again.

Who knows how long the stranger— Jae— will be here. His friends could take from a few minutes to a whole hour to get to the coffee shop, specially considering the heaviness of the rain outside.

Johnny settles on being a good host now that he’s here, and starts preparing the espresso machine in order to make something for his guest as this one continues speaking.

“ _My phone battery’s dead, so I couldn’t text you. Yeah. Yes. Tell Doyoung to stop screaming, I’m fine. I’m..._ ” Jae turns around again, and covers the phone with a hand as he addresses Johnny, in English. “Sorry, where am I?”

“In A Dream,” Johnny answers him immediately as he prepares the shot and steams the milk. He doesn’t take notice of how that sounds until his eyes look up at Jae and find him staring, confused. Johnny quickly shakes his head and adds. “That’s the name of this coffee shop.”

He then recites the exact address, hands clumsily reaching out for a cup to pour the coffee in. Jae smiles again, this time wider so his dimples have the chance to appear completely, and then he’s back on the phone and repeating the address Johnny just told him.

“ _I’m In A Dream, apparently,_ ” he says, and his voice sound just a little teasing. “ _Shut up, it’s the name of the coffee shop I’m at. No, I think they were about to close. Uh-huh. The barista invited me in._ ”

Johnny tries his best not to look up. He’s not supposed to be hearing this conversation, let alone understanding it. It probably hasn’t even crossed the stranger’s mind that he’s speaking in a language Johnny understands, so the latter choses to pretend he doesn’t in order to make him feel a little more comfortable. 

That is, until Jae giggles into the phone. “ _Yes, he’s cute. His eyes are so dreamy, and he seems to be so kind. I mean, who the hell invites a complete stranger inside? At night? His heart must be golden. It’s like I’m in a cliché teen movie, you have no idea how fast my heart’s beating._ ”

It’s hard not to blush for Johnny. He nearly drops the milk pitcher as he bites back nervous laughter, and he has to take a moment before continuing to prepare the coffee.

 _He thinks I’m cute,_ Johnny’s alarmingly aware of. At his 26, he probably shouldn’t be this excited over someone thinking that about him.

And it’s just that Jae’s so handsome. From the depth of his eyes to the gentle expressions of his voice. His long fingers run through silky soft locks of hair, which shift back into place once his hand has gone past.

“ _Anyways, how long until you get here?... Okay. I’ll be waiting, sorry again for getting lost. Yes, love you, too. Huh?_ ” Jae’s eyes widen at something his friend says, and he looks at Johnny in complete shock for an entire second before his sight falls to the ground. Johnny can swear he’s blushing. “ _Shut up, I’m not doing that! Just get here fast. Bye._ ”

He hangs up at the same time Johnny’s finished preparing the coffee.

The taller walks towards the table, cup in hand, and smiles at Jae the moment they’re standing one in front of the other.

“Thank you,” Jae bows his head a little, his cheeks still pink, and hands the phone over. Johnny exchanges the device for the cup of coffee on his hands, and Jae looks at him, confused.

“You must be freezing,” Johnny explains before the other can ask. “Drink this. You seem like the type to like sweet drinks, so I prepared a latte. I hope you like it.”

Jae looks down at the cup in his hands. It’s warm, and smells good, but his favorite part is the little heart that has been poured on top.

The corners of his lips turn upwards in a shy smile. “It’s my favorite, thank you. How much…?”

Johnny shakes his head. “It’s on the house, don’t worry about it.”

“I can’t possibly—”

“Please,” Johnny beams, and then he gestures to the chair behind Jae. “I insist. You can sit down and enjoy while your friends arrive.”

The other takes a deep breath, and it starts making Johnny nervous the fact that he hasn’t broken eye contact in a couple of seconds.

Jae ends up nodding, bowing his head again in gratitude.

And just as Johnny starts turning around to clean up behind the counter, a hand quickly takes his to stop him from leaving. “Wait!”

It lasts less than a second, for Jae quickly pulls back, as if their touch had given him an electric shock. Johnny looks at him, expectant, trying to ignore the loud thumping of his heart over his ears. It’s so loud, he almost doesn’t hear the words that come out from Jae’s lips next.

“... Care to join me?”

 

* * *

 

Jae bursts out laughing. “How could you not notice?” 

“I don’t know! Poor Yuta had to take a bus back to campus,” Johnny covers his mouth as he laughs. “No one, not even the teachers, had realized we’d left him behind until he arrived.”

The younger shakes his head, but he can’t stop the smile on his face. He feels bad for laughing at the misfortune of Johnny’s friend, but it’s so funny he can’t help it.

They’ve been talking for at least 20 minutes, sharing stuff about their lives with such ease there hasn’t been a single silent moment since both of them sat down at the table. The cup of coffee rests, now empty, in between Jae’s hands, and the rain outside has almost died down, only small drops falling softly every few seconds.

Johnny has talked about the coffee shop, how he owns it, and how he opened it up almost 4 years ago with the help of a dear friend. He’s told him about Mark, and even a little about Ten.

It came up when Jae confessed he’s still in college, and Johnny almost choked on air.

“How old are you?” he’d asked, and was a little nervous when the other answered with a soft _twenty one._

Johnny talked about his time in college, his friends, and, a little shyly, about how he had to drop out. Jae listened to him absorbently, understanding, his eyes always kind and never judging.

They’re so nice and so inviting, they made Johnny want to share more.

On the other hand, Jae’s told him about his own college experience, the exchange program he’s here for, and how today he started a training course aiming to prepare him for the upcoming school year. Then he explained how he’d gotten lost.

The conversation flows and flows; unrehearsed, unscripted, natural. It’s as if they’d known each other for years, as if they’re just catching up after a while of not seeing each other. There’s an unspoken energy and connection between them that, scaringly enough, reminds Johnny of the first time he met his best friend Ten, so many years ago.

But this feels different. It’s a feeling he’s had before, but for some reason now feels new.

And he’s certain he doesn’t want Jae to go the minute they hear a car parking outside.

“ _Peach_!” there’s a yell, followed by a guy entering the store.

He’s probably as tall as Jae, with fluffy blonde hair and a loud voice. Must be Jungwoo, Johnny thinks, reminiscing all Jae has said about him. Quickly following, walks in another guy, with jet black hair and wearing all black. That’s definitely Doyoung.

“ _What the hell were you thinking?!_ ” he says towards Jae, sounding annoyed but also concerned. “ _We’ve been looking for you all day._ ”

Johnny looks the other way, trying to not let the others know he understands when they yell in Korean. He hasn’t even told Jae, for the opportunity hasn’t come up yet.

“ _I’m sorry, okay? It’s not like I died,_ ” Jae pouts as he stands up, and Johnny does as well.

“ _You could have._ ”

“ _But I didn’t,_ ” he rolls his eyes, and he gestures towards Johnny, switching back to English so the other doesn’t feel left out. “This is Johnny. He let me use the phone and stay here.”

Jungwoo smiles in a way that makes Johnny shiver. “ _You were right. He has dreamy eyes,_ ” he mutters towards Jae, who blushes only enough that, even if Johnny didn’t understand, he could tell what just happened.

Doyoung nudges his boyfriend, and then says to Johnny. “Thank you for taking care of him.”

Johnny smiles. “Don’t worry, it was a pleasure, really.”

Either way they thank him again, and end up excusing themselves as they start walking out the shop, telling Jae they’ll be waiting for him inside the car so he can say a proper goodbye. Jungwoo shamelessly winks at his friend as he leaves.

Jae shakes his head, embarrassed, but still looks up to meet Johnny’s eyes. “Thank you. For everything you did for me today. You didn’t have to.”

“But I wanted to,” the taller confides, his voice dropping down to a whisper.

They’re standing face to face, a lot more closer than strangers probably should. There’s something greater than them pulling them together, something asking them not to part ways. Johnny wants to say something, but he doesn’t find the words to do so.

“Well,” Jae sighs after a second. “I guess I have to go now.”

“Oh. Yeah, sure.”

The younger takes a slow step back, almost as if he doesn’t want to. He reaches out with clumsy hands to take his jacket from the backrest of the chair, and waves a shy hand on Johnny’s direction.

And just as he’s walking towards the door, his name is called.

“Jae?”

He turns around, hand already on the door handle. “Yes?”

“ _You also have dreamy eyes,_ ” Johnny smiles, a little too proud of himself, and his heart is near bursting out of his chest as Jae’s eyes widen in shame and his cheek visibly blush.

He runs out of the store without saying anything, and that’s how he’s gone.

 

* * *

 

Johnny finishes cleaning the counter when his phone rings. 

“H…?”

“Oi, did you fucking die?” Mark is quick to say, voice sounding a little worried.

Johnny frowns. “One, don’t swear, what the fuck? And two, no, I didn’t die. I’m still at the coffee shop.”

“Weren’t you on your way like 30 minutes ago?”

“... Something came up.”

On the other side of the line, Hyuck lets him now he’s on speaker as he teases. “Sounds like a pretty customer to me. Was it a pretty customer?”

The older doesn’t say anything, feeling his face burning.

Mark scoffs. “It _was_! I can’t believe this. I’m over here worrying like crazy, thinking you’ve been killed or abducted by aliens… And you were flirting.”

“With a _customer_!” Hyuck says, amazed. “Isn’t that against the law or something?”

“Come on, boys,” Johnny complains, but the embarrassment on his voice, and the fact that he didn’t deny he’d been flirting, are dead giveaways. “He wasn’t a customer. He was lost and couldn’t call his friends. I just helped and waited until someone picked him up.”

“Oh, so it’s a _he_ this time,” Donghyuck coos excitedly. “You haven’t had a boyfriend since Adam.”

Mark gasps, and there’s a thud and a complaint that tells Johnny maybe he smacked the other. “Shut up, we don’t talk about Adam. He was a jerk.”

“I’m just saying he was the last _boy_ friend. I never said he was a good one.”

“A good one would’ve been Dave.”

“Yeah, but still kinda meh. He has better taste in women. Remember Olive?”

“Loved her.”

“Okay, alright, stop,” Johnny interrupts the boys’ talk, equally embarrassed and frustrated. “I’m not getting a boyfriend, and I don’t need you kids discussing my sad love life. What would you two know, anyway?”

“Well…” Hyuck starts saying something that is quickly cut off by Mark.

“We’re not kids, we’re 17!” he says, almost frantically. “And you started it by flirting with that guy. What was he doing out alone so late?”

“He’d been walking around the city with some friends and got distracted taking some pics. He figured that instead of looking for his friends, he could just wander off alone, but eventually got lost.”

Mark snorted. “Lame.”

Hyuck hummed. “Is he a tourist or something?”

“An exchange student,” Johnny clarifies, rubbing at his tired eyes.

“A _student_?” his brother says as if he can’t believe. “Hyung, I didn’t take you for a cradle-robber.”

If Johnny were home, he would’ve already smacked Mark in the arm. “He’s a _college_ student. A junior, from Korea.”

“Oh my God,” Donghyuck gasps. “It’s destiny.”

“... What do you mean?”

Hyuck probably rolls his eyes. “Come on. What are the odds, of him coming to Chicago? Getting lost? Walking past the coffee shop? _Your_ coffee shop, might I add. At the exact minute you were ready to leave. Are you telling me you don’t feel like it was meant to be?”

Johnny stays quiet for a second, thinking.

It _had_ felt right, he’s certain of that. Talking to Jae made minutes feel like seconds, and with every little thing the other shared, he just felt like learning more about him. Johnny’s even aware of how disappointed he was once Jae had had to leave.

“It was… Nice,” he ends up saying, shyly looking down.

“Was he cute?”

Johnny feels blood rushing to his face. “... Breathtaking, I’d say”

There’s an excited squeal coming from Hyuck, and a fake disgusted _yikes_ from Mark.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” says the youngest, having created his own fantasy from what he’s hearing.

Johnny bites his lip, the concept Hyuck’s referring to running through his head. He considers the circumstances, considers the way he felt the moment his eyes laid on Jae’s. His heart starts racing just from the thought, and a dumb smile appears on his face as he finds himself believing the fairy tale Hyuck’s made up.

Because despite always being the hopeless romantic, Johnny had never really thought about the possibility of…

“Love at first sight?” Mark says over the phone. “That’s such a cliché.”

It is, Johnny knows that. He even remembers Jae saying something along those lines when he was on the phone.

But, what’s a cliché, anyway? Something overused, commonplace, unoriginal. Sure.

Yet, it’s also something that’s so known, and so understood by many, it goes without a question. The personal made universal. A common language used to describe something that’s so natural it becomes indescribable.

It’s a love story that you know the end of, but nonetheless wait for as it writes itself at its own pace.

“Let people fall in love, you asshole,” Hyuck complains to Mark, annoyed, and then there’s some sort of whispering Johnny doesn’t quite catch. When Hyuck speaks again, his voice sounds happy. “Anyways, hyung, what’s your man’s name?”

“Jae,” Johnny says, and his lips curl up into such a big smile it’s almost embarrassing.

“Jae what?”

The question throws him off. “What do you mean?”

“His full name? He can’t just be called Jae,” Mark stresses, as if it were obvious. As Johnny doesn’t answer, his brother groans. “You’re kidding. _Hyung!_ You didn’t ask for his name?”

Johnny’s mind reruns his encounter with Jae from start to finish. He looks for an introduction, a question, a statement. Something to tell him he asked for his name.

But he didn’t, Johnny’s suddenly aware of. 

“That doesn’t matter,” Hyuck seems to wave it away, without concern. “He can ask later, when he sees him again. Hyung, you got his number, didn’t you?”

Johnny’s mind runs a thousand miles per hour, looking for the exact moment where he asked to have the stranger’s number.

… But he _didn’t_ , Johnny’s terrifyingly aware of, and he groans in distress at the exact same time Mark breaks into laughter and Hyuck starts lamenting.

Lamenting that, just like any fairy tale, this appears to be the end.

 

* * *

  

_February 25 th, 2017_

_7:21 PM_

 

“Table 8 wants a macchiato and a slice of shortcake.” 

“On it,” Johnny answers, and he hands a cappuccino to his brother. “Take this to table 2, will you?”

Mark nods and takes the cup of coffee with him, easily making his way through the familiar place.

It’s quite an active day at the coffee shop. Friday evenings are people’s favorite to come to In A Dream, sit down and drink a cup of coffee, usually accompanied by one or two of the delicious pastries the place sells.

Right now, the shop’s not as busy as it can get, but there’s still some work to do. Johnny feels a little guilty for having his brother stuck in here on a Friday, but he needs the help, and Mark doesn’t really complain. Hyuck’s leaning against the counter, helping from time to time, but really just teasing Mark and snapping pics of him at work.

Johnny finds it endearing, so he lets them be. It reminds him of Ten— the mutual banter, the affectionate stares. Even the slight undertone of what seems to be love.

 _Love_.

For some reason, he’s suddenly reminded of Jae.

It’s been five days since their first encounter, and Johnny hasn’t seen him again ever since. It makes him disappointed and, quite honestly, a little sad. But he takes responsibility for his lack of thought and doesn’t allow himself to complain.

Love at first sight can happen to him again, he hopes.

The little door bell at the coffee shop’s door rings, and Johnny’s taken out of his thoughts to greet the arriving customer.

He finds himself staring at a pair of almond shaped eyes, a straight nose in between. Dimples appear over the surface of smooth, flawless skin that reminds Johnny of Korean rice cakes, and the newcomer smiles with a pair of lips that are a shade of pink so distinctive Johnny can only think of as _peach_.

Johnny loses his breath.

All of a sudden, he feels a strange flutter inside his chest that he had not felt in quite some time.

For, at last, destiny enters In A Dream.


End file.
